Monday, January 12, 2015

S.E.X. Spotlight~ Kali Argent

A big thank you
for hosting me today and giving me the chance to show off my first full-length
book! It’s also my first adventure into the bestselling sci-fi romance series
3013: The Series. I’m so honored to have been invited, and if you haven’t
started the series yet, I can’t recommend enough checking out the first 5 books
of the series by Laurie Roma and Susan Hayes!

3013: MENDED

A scroll with exceptional abilities,
Camille Brighton lived a life of wealth and privilege until tragedy changed everything.
The gifts that had once made her special are suddenly a curse to be feared, and
she finds herself a captive in her own home with a world of possibilities just
beyond her reach. When the demons of her past return, though, forcing her to
flee to the outer rim of Alliance territory, she soon realizes freedom isn’t
exactly the adventure she’d thought it would be.

Running from his
own past on Helix, Tariq Navarra has spent the last nine years as a mechanical
engineer on Beta Station 4. Life has proven the only person he can depend on is
himself, and he’s built an impenetrable wall around his heart, wearing
suspicion and distrust like a second skin. Then a slip of a woman carrying the
scent of fresh rain and lavender turns his world upside down with just a smile.
He’s never wanted anything or anyone more, and he’ll go to the ends of the
universe to keep Cami safe. With danger lurking at every turn, he may just be
forced to prove it—even if that means protecting the angel from himself.

Warm hands cradled
her face, bringing some semblance of reality back to her. Prying her lids open,
she stared up at Tariq through blurry eyes and moaned. Everything hurt. Her
heart pounded and her temples throbbed, making her lightheaded, and each breath
came in short, shallow pants until her stomach cramped with nausea.

“Cami, focus,”
Tariq ordered. “Look right here at me, only me.” He stroked her cheeks with his
fingertips and petted her hair. “That’s it, angel. Deep breath. Good,” he
praised when she complied. “Again. One more.”

Staring into his
amber eyes, Cami breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth,
focusing solely on his voice. “Keep talking, please.”

“I’m not going to
let anything happen to you, remember?”

Then he did the
most remarkable thing. Tariq pressed his palm to the side of her neck, using
his thumb under her chin to tilt her face up, and kissed her. When their lips
met, everything in her head melted away, dissolving into a peace she hadn’t
known in years.

Her pulse
accelerated once more, for a completely different reason this time, and Cami
pressed closer, opening for him with a quiet whimper. The first glide of his
tongue against hers sent a shiver down her spine, and the scrape of his fangs
against her lower lip produced a lusty moan she didn’t know herself capable of
making.

“That’s better,” Tariq whispered
against the corner of her mouth. “You’re okay now.”

“Better than
okay.” Cami tried to sit up, but stopped when Tariq closed his eyes and
groaned. Only then did she realize they were sitting in the middle of the
hallway with her perched in Tariq’s lap. “How did I get here?”

“I thought you
were having a seizure or something, so I carried you out of the atrium.” He
dropped his head back against the wall and groaned again. “Stop moving.”

“Oh.” Cami held
perfectly still. “Did I hurt you?”

In response, he
tucked her head under his chin and laughed. “No, angel, you didn’t hurt
me.”

A hard bulge
behind his zipper dug into her backside, alerting her to the problem. Pushing
away from his chest, Cami peeked up at him through her lashes, realization
finally dawning. “Oops, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”
Sliding his arms around her midsection and behind her knees, Tariq stood,
lifting her as easily as if she weighed nothing. “You need rest.”

“I’m feeling
better now.” The pain in her head had vanished, and only a warm tingle in her
belly—remnants of their kiss—remained. “Why did you kiss me?”

Though he looked
straight ahead, Cami didn’t miss the faint smile or the way his voice gentled
when he repeated his earlier assessment. “You talk too much.”

Resting her head
on his shoulder, Cami sighed in contentment. “It only seems that way because
you barely talk at all. I’ll try to be less vocal, though.”

Tariq pressed his
lips to the top of her head as a satisfied rumbled vibrated his chest. “Don’t.
I’ll get used to it.”